Cal U will host the Southwest Region of the Pennsylvania Science Olympiad on March 22 at various locations on campus.
Teams from Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Bedford, Blair, Cambria, Fayette, Fulton, Greene, Indiana, Somerset, Washington and Westmoreland counties will test their knowledge and skills in science, technology, engineering and math. List of participating school districts.
Competition events include:
- Electric vehicle: Teams must design, build and test one vehicle that uses electrical energy as its sole means of propulsion to travel as quickly as possible and stop close to a target point.
- Forensics: Students will identify polymers, solids, fibers, and other materials in a crime scenario.
- Food science: Students will answer questions about the chemistry of food and food grains and build a simple calorimeter to determine the energy content of a solid foodstuff.
- Wind power: Teams will build a blade assembly that will be used to capture wind power.
Read more about the 2017 Pennsylvania Science Olympiad events.
The regional competition at Cal U includes two divisions — grades 6-9 and grades 9-12 — with up to 15 members per team. The two winning teams will meet the winners from the other five regional events to compete for the state title on April 29 at Juniata College in Huntingdon, Pa. Those winners will advance to the National Science Olympiad, May 19-20 at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio.
At Cal U, events will take place in New Science, Eberly and Frich halls, as well as the Convocation Center.